Pope John's offense entered its game against Morris Hills fresh off of a 54-point outburst the week before. But the offense struggled Saturday in Rockaway, leaving the door open for upset-minded Morris Hills.

Noah Brown made sure no such upset would occur.

Brown scored three total touchdowns, Mark DiMatteo returned a punt 55 yards for a score, and Pope John held off a strong performance by the home team to get a 35-21 victory.

Pope John hosts Montville on Saturday, while Morris Hills will travel to Sparta.

"We stayed the course," Pope John coach Brian Carlson said. "We felt at the end of the day we would be able to take care of business. Our offense did not play the way it should, but eventually we were able to make things go our way."

Morris Hills running back Eric Turner opened the scoring with an 11-yard catch-and-run in the first quarter to give his team a 7-0 edge.

Pope John couldn't do much offensively in the first half, and Morris Hills took advantage, driving back into the red zone with seven minutes left in the second quarter to potentially take a two-touchdown lead.

But on the ensuing play, linebacker Deriam Guirdy was in the right place at the right time when a Morris Hills fumble popped up right into his hands at his own five yard line. Guirdy responded by taking it 95 yards the other way for a huge momentum-shifting score to tie the game.

Morris Hills then punted to Pope John returner Mark DiMatteo, who gave his team the lead with a 55-yard run, and it looked like his team would pull away when it got the ball back again. But freshman quarterback Sonny Abramson struggled all day, and on the next series, threw the ball right to defensive end Rob Sihlanick, who returned it 20 yards for a score to tie it again at 14-14.

"Our offense struggled to get on track," Carlson said. "Last week we were clicking and today it wasn't there. But it's part of the process for a freshman quarterback."

Brown answered with a 1-yard touchdown run before halftime, as Pope John went in with a six-point advantage. But Morris Hills came out ready to play despite starting the third quarter from its own 1-yard line. The 99-yard drive was capped off by Kyle Corry's 35-yard touchdown run that stunningly gave Morris Hills a 21-20 lead.

However, it was all Brown from there, as he took an Abramson slant pass 58 yards up the middle for an electric score to regain the lead on the first play of the fourth quarter. The two-point try was successful and Pope John led, 28-21.

"Noah stepped up big time," Carlson said. "He's a big physical kid, and he ran downhill hard today. He does everything for us."

Brown added a late score to seal it from 14 yards out, and the day was over for Morris Hills. He finished with 146 total yards and three touchdowns.

"I think it was a good lesson coming off of a big win," Carlson said. "I think they realize now they have to put it to the grindstone every day."